TCS ILP - a makeup that thrills freshers?

June 16 to September 7, my hopes rose, my career was bright, my life seemed good. ILP, 60 days to be cherished, enjoyed, learn and grow. And yes, the promises given by TCS rose sky high. ILP put me out the fear I get when I Google - "TCS Reviews". I knew bench existed, but always believed performance could overthrow benches. If you look back my blog post, you'll see my overwhelming experience at TCS ILP. I never felt good being part of TCS, but September 7 made me feel proud being a part of the organisation. But what happened next? If you are a proud TCSer, better not go ahead.

With high spirits from the release of ILP, crowned as the Star of the Batch, I was having a very high morale. High aspirations, high expectations, and anxiety of first day at work. I spent my short vacation at Mumbai, with my family. Had to "Join" TCS on September 12, a day after I turn 22. I landed at Bangalore, a city which I knew had a promising future. We found out the offices to report that day itself, was proud to see Tata Consultancy Services hanging all over. Saw about 4 TCS offices en route to my place. But never I knew, how I would feel about this a week later.First DaySUIT UP, a phrase which would be meaningful for the morning of Sept 12. Full sleeves, clean shave, well groomed hair, polished shoes -- > We could even be a part of the White House! 8.30am it was, the time we thought the office would open. We signed in as visitors, and the Security officer gave us a surprised smile. Ha! The meaning of that smirk is crystal clear now. We went to the Pioneer building first, which looked like a deserted warfield. No one around, and we realized later that was not our point of rendezvous. So we went to our point of reporting, 10th floor. Anxious minds in a lift - just to see another deserted hallway. The security over there asked us to come back at 11.30.
Three hours did not mean much as we had lot to explore, Tech park mall, new dishes, new menu prices(Even special TCS prices!). 11.30 approached faster than anticipated, and in no time we were in a Conference room for our Debriefing(or is it?). A gentlemen took down our phone numbers, and said these words -...TCS Bangalore is the second largest TCS branch with over 32,000 employees. Close to 400 are already in Bench, and you have to compete with them to grab an opportunity...
Still it did not mean much to me, I still believed Performance would overthrow benches. He then redirected us to our particular RMG people, who were supposed to give further instructions. And we got ours as - Meet at 3.30pm.
So we set out again to explore, and at 3.30 pm, we got our next instruction - Meet next day at 11.30am.

That was the beginning. From then on, we meet her every day at 11.30(or at alternate days) just to hear those golden words - Meet again tomorrow. In the meantime, my friends were getting jobs- Call center jobs.

It has been 2 weeks since I've come here, watching movies, roaming around. And I don't know how, but the same TCS which was sky high in my mind 2 weeks ago, is down. And very down in the sense I even feel ashamed to have the TCS tag on me. Once you get out of your room, you'll see TCS tags at all streets, bus stops, buses, ITPL, hotels, name it. It has made me feel that I am nothing, but just another TCSer.

TCS is a good place - not for someone who is ambitious, responsible, hardworking, and has obligations in life. Its an awesome place if you have time, patience and no future plans. Again, these are my views of my short IT career of 2 weeks, might change in the coming days. I would like to add more to this, but I guess you have got a clear picture of what the real deal is. My advice to freshers, if you have an option - go for it.

Update 18 Oct 2011
It's been over a month since I've been to Bangalore. Things are the same, we go to office on alternate days, and have the same conversation. In the meantime 6 of my friends have got their projects, Support projects, and pretty good ones. They are in a different domain, and that domain has vacancies.Luck its all about Luck!Update 29 Oct 2011
4 days, that's the count I visited office in the month of October. And still nothing. Our RMG(Resource Management Group - the people whom we have to meet while in Bench) gave us a hope saying that something may happen in 2 weeks(Along with a surprising question of Who Are You?). But for now, there is nothing. 2 more friends of mine have got their projects. It had to do with the domain I was put in. I belonged to BFS 2(Banking and Finance). BFS has several split ups withing it based on the clients. BFS1 and BFS3 have got their projects, and BFS2 looks nowhere near in getting a project.
Again Luck, its all about Luck!Update 4 Nov 2011A tribute to TCS, I Quit